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[Saba Sports News] The Boston Celtics are heading into a pivotal offseason full of tough decisions, but NBA legend Kevin Garnett believes there’s one player the team simply can’t afford to lose: Kristaps Porzingis.
On his Ticket & The Truth podcast, Garnett emphasized the importance of keeping Porzingis, who’s entering the final year of his contract and has already been mentioned in trade rumors.
“You gotta bring Porzingis back, man,” Garnett said. “Porzingis makes it all unguardable. When he’s in there and everybody’s healthy — he wasn’t healthy at all at the end. You couldn’t even get a clear prognosis on what was going on.”
Garnett sees Porzingis as a key component of Boston’s success, especially when healthy. His ability to stretch the floor and create mismatches opens up the offense and makes it even tougher for defenses to handle Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Porzingis battled illness late in the season, which lingered into the playoffs and severely impacted his performance. He averaged just 7.7 points on 31.6% shooting during the postseason.
With Boston looking to manage a ballooning payroll and several players due for contract attention, Porzingis could become a trade candidate. But in Garnett’s eyes, moving him would be a major mistake.